Northwest Territorial Mint Scandal: Investors Had Fair Warning on This Blowup As Well

The news unfortunately just keeps getting worse for customers and creditors of Northwest Territorial Mint. The prominent bullion dealer located near Seattle, Washington filed for bankruptcy court protection at the end of March. The losses of customers who never received delivery of orders plus the losses of other creditors could be as high as $50 million, according to news reports.

Calvert believes the funds received for new orders were used to buy metal needed to deliver orders placed long before. If that's the case, the mint was effectively borrowing money from its hapless customers to finance its business. And this practice may have been going on for as long as a decade. Yet, remarkably, customers continued to do business with the mint even as most other precious metals dealers across America make immediate delivery.

Northwest Territorial Mint Scandal: Investors Had Fair Warning on This Blowup As Well